To the finals or bust
by bakatora16
Summary: It's the Chaos Cane's third year attempting to make it to the finals, and the gang is determined to make this year their year. With the last tournament ending in disaster, will they have what it takes to finally advance to the rank of champions?


"Remember what I taught you, Catherine. You went last so you got the most time watching the obstacle course. It's not that hard." Perseus Chaos, the team captain for Chaos Canes popped up on his teammate and co-founder, Catherine Cane's screen. His golden eyes peered into Catherine's as if to say, "Don't disappoint me."

"Easy for you to say. You have the best time." Catherine slipped a red ribbon in her hair to push the hair out of her bright red eyes. Perseus had been personally training his team mate. "Well, here goes nothing." Catherine pushed her customized, black and crimson Houndsolider forward, and took a look at all the targets at their various ranges. That was when Perseus' face popped back on her command screen.

"Catherine. No."

"But it's faster."

"Catherine. No!"

"I could shave points of my time."

"Catherine! No!"

"Pfft, my Zoid. I do what I want!" Catherine closed the screen that Perseus' face had popped upon, and opened up all of her weapons systems. She highlighted practically every target on the obstacle course, and opened fire. Bullets, missiles, pretty much everything that her Houndsolider had erupted from the Zoid and lit the obstacle course up.

"Damn it, Catherine!" Perseus rubbed his eyes, letting his long brown hair to fall slightly in his eyes, from within the cockpit of his own Zoid, the Mugen Liger. He then let out a sigh. "Finish up and meet me back in the bay so we can discuss the team results."

The command bay's main room consisted of a screen on the south wall, and a large, round table so that everyone seated could see. Perseus stood at the screen, while Catherine and their other four teammates sat at the table. Perseus had been wearing a gray scarf; more so for appearances than warmth. He also bore a gray sweater with a deep v cut, and a white collar shirt underneath. To complete his outfit, he wore a pair of jeans. "Let's go over the results. The time to beat was my one minute and thirty seconds." Perseus picked up a small remote and clicked it, and the screen showed an image of one of their team mates, Elena Winthrop and her ShadowFox. Elena's raven color hair was cut in a sort of asymmetrical bob style, so that the front of her hair ended past her chin, while the back of her neck was slightly exposed. Her skin tone resembled sand, like Perseus', and she was curvy which contrasted Catherine's more athletic build. Currently, she was wearing a loose black top, with matching leggings. "Elena; you got a minute and forty, so that's pretty good. You were really fast as far as taking out your targets, but you spent a bit too long assessing the situation. Just work on speeding that up."

"As long as you sign my paychecks, whatever you say." Elena used to be a mercenary before hand, and still technically is. She recently joined the team on a more permanent contract, after deciding to stick around once her temporary contract expired. She liked to threaten that she'll leave the team whenever someone upsets her, but no one honestly took her seriously.

"Actually, I sign the paychecks." While Perseus was the team leader and captain, Catherine was actually the owner, since he could never finance the team without her. The two have been best friends since childhood however, so she lets him in on most of the decisions.

"Anyway!" Perseus regained order of the room. "Next up, Connor Steele." The screen changed to show Connor and his customized, white and golden Geno Breaker. Connor was both taller and darker than Perseus, with icy blue eyes and a serious case of bed head. Connor was wearing a long sleeve black thermal, with black jeans and white sneakers. "You tied with Elena at one minute and forty seconds. You took out your long range targets in one direct hit, but you need to up the strength of your melee strikes.

"You might not want to give me too many strategies, since they're going to eventually be used against you." Connor was technically the last person to join the team, although he came right before Elena signed on an exclusive deal with the Chaos Canes. Before that, he had his own Zoid's team, and fought to a standstill with Perseus. They disbanded and he floated over to the C.C's.

"Someone's got to keep the gap between us even. Now for Lex." Lex had been touching his short, spiked hair. It always drew attention to him, since even though the base of it was black, one side of his tips was purple and the other side was blue. He was the tallest, and the most muscular out of the team, which made him out to be much more intimidating than he really was. He wore baggy jeans barely kept on even with his belt and a green shirt tight enough that his build could be seen through it. He also sported a gold watch with silver detailing, and a golden ring. His picture, along with his Berzerk Fury came onto the screen. "You made it a three way tie, coming in at One minute and forty seconds as well. You had no problem taking out the enemies, but your charged particle cannons are on the slow side."

"That's why they're called, _charged._" Lex was one of the first members of the team when it had just got its start, three years prior. Perseus and Catherine instantly picked him up because he always fought like he had something to prove. He was raised to pilot Zoids, so he had been piloting them at a young age, like Perseus.

"Doesn't change that it's slow. Moving on." Another image flicked on screen, showing Zephyr and his Hayate Liger. Zephyr was the same shade as Connor, with short cut hair. His choice of clothing for the day consisted of a black sleeveless, zip-up hoodie with white t-shit underneath. To cover his lower half, he wore dark blue jeans and black tennis shoes. "Zephyr, you actually got the fastest time on the speed portion and close quarters portion, but you did so poorly on long range that you dropped to a minute and fifty seconds."

"I'll be honest; I just heard best speed and close quarters out of that whole rant." Zephyr was the techy of the group, and updated the Zoids with whatever he got his hands on. He helped put in the weapons systems and such, but often clashed with the mechanic, Vincent, over making sure performance wasn't lost. He once put in a set of extra large, high end blades onto his Zoid despite Vincent warning him it would be vastly inefficient. It ended up costing them the semifinals last year. But he was one of the first members, and has more than established his worth on the team.

Vincent flicked onto the screen, with his Deadly Kong. Vincent had long, brown dreadlocks with hazel eyes and a slight scar above his right one. He was wearing a standard mechanic's jumper, although the top half was off and tied at the waist. He was honestly, almost as muscular as Lex. "The only problem you honestly have is that your Zoid is slow. But you did manage to tie with Zephyr at a minute and fifty."

"Because my Zoid is the only one incompatible with thrusters, as we saw last year." Vincent threw an eye at Zephyr, in an "I told you so" manner. Vincent was the oldest member of the group at twenty-seven, but started off only recently as a pilot. Before, he was just the team's mechanic. He doubles as both now, but pilots in a very rigid, almost militaristic way. Not that it was a bad thing, but he typically ended up playing a more supportive role in combat.

"And Finally Catherine, at two minutes even. You would have been faster, but you lost points for hitting the civilian markers and running out of ammo."

"Why were non-enemies on the field anyway?" Catherine was wearing a blood red tank top with matching heels, and jeans as black as her hair.

"To represent your teammates!" Catherine had a habit of expending her ammo and taking everything out at once. While it was effective…it took out literally everything; friend or foe alike.

"Plus, I had an extra target."

"On purpose to show you what if you miss one and are out of ammo."

"Whatever, I still took everyone out. And it's not like I can't afford more ammo." She looked at Perseus' face and sighed. She hated that face of annoyance. The last time he gave it to her; she had to replenish all of the food she ate from his fridge…and she was only twelve. "I'll try harder not to shoot everything all at once."

"Thank you. Now let's go prepare for battle. We fight the Zaber Strikers in two hours." The group all walked off to their rooms, although Elena muttered under her breath about there was no need to prepare against a group that used Zaber Fangs.

Two hours passed in no time, and the team had already found themselves in their Zoids, on a desert battlefield in their typical formation. Lex and Vincent were up front to draw fire, Connor was in the back with Catherine for long range, and Perseus remained in the dead center. Zephyr and Elena were on opposite sides of Perseus; forming a line. It was a relatively easy challenge. One Zaber Fang a piece. Finally, the judge dropped from the sky in between the two teams.

"The Zoid's match between team Zaber Strikers and team Chaos Canes will now begin!"


End file.
